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      <p>
        Not a few of our readers will remember the ascent of Nadar’s colossal
        balloon from Paris, on Sunday, the 18th of October, 1863. This balloon
        was remarkable as having attached to it a regular two-story house for a
        car. Its ascent was witnessed by nearly half a million of persons. The
        balloon, after passing over the eastern part of France, Belgium, and
        Holland, suffered a disastrous descent in Hanover the day after it
        started on its perilous journey. It was a fool-hardy enterprise to
        construct such a gigantic and unmanageable balloon, presenting such an
        immense surface to the atmosphere, and being so susceptible to adverse
        aerial currents as to become the helpless prey of the elements; and it
        was still more fool-hardy to place the lives of its passengers at the
        mercy of such terrible and ungovernable forces. A large section of the
        public laboured under the delusion that Nadar’s balloon was one capable
        of being steered. In reality, however, the ‘Geant’ was unquestionably
        the most rebellious and unruly specimen of its class that has been made
        since the days of Montgolfier. The object in view when this formidable
        monster was designed and constructed was to create the means to collect
        sufficient funds to form a “Free Association for Aerial Navigation by
        means of MACHINES HEAVIER THAN AIR,” and for the construction of
        machines on this principle. The receipts from the exhibition of the
        “Geant” were intended to form the first capital of the association. The
        hopes, however, of the promoters have not been realised in this respect;
        for while the expenses of the construction of the balloon have amounted,
        directly and indirectly, to the sum of L8,300, its two ascents in Paris
        and its exhibition in London produced only L3,300.
      </p>

      <p>
        Space forbids us to enter at length on the various stages of the idea of
        aerial navigation by means of an apparatus heavier than the atmosphere.
        The idea is not, however, by any means so absurd as it appears at first
        sight. Those who, like Arago, declare that the word “impossible” does
        not exist, except in the higher mathematics, and those who look
        hopefully to the future instead of resting content with the past, will
        join in applauding the spirit which dictated the manifesto of aerial
        locomotion to the founder of the association which we are about to
        describe. M. Babinet, speaking on this subject before the French
        Polytechnic Association, said: “It is absurd to talk of guiding
        balloons. How will you set about it? How is it possible that a
        balloon—say, for instance, like the Flesselles, whose diameter measures
        120 feet—can resist and manoeuvre against opposing winds or currents of
        air? It would require a power equal to 400 horses for the sails of a
        ship to struggle on equal terms with the wind. Suppose an impossibility,
        namely, that a balloon could carry with it a force equal to 400
        horsepower; this result would be of little use, for under the immense
        weight the fragile covering of the balloon would instantly collapse. If
        all the horses of a regiment were harnessed to the car of a balloon by
        means of a long rope, the result would be that the balloon would fly
        into shivers, being too fragile to withstand these two opposing forces.
        Man must seek to raise himself in the air by another mode of operation
        altogether, if he wishes to guide himself at the same time. Some time
        ago I bought a play thing, very much in vogue at that time, called a
        Stropheor. This toy was composed of a small rotating screw propeller,
        which revolved on its own support when the piece of string wound round
        it was pulled sharply. The screw was rather heavy, weighing nearly a
        quarter of a pound, and the wings were of tin, very broad and thick.
        This machine, however, was rather too eccentric for parlour use, for its
        flight was so violent that it was continually breaking the pier glass,
        if there was one in the room; and, failing this, it next attacked the
        windows. The ascending force of this machine is so great that I have
        seen one of them fly over Antwerp Cathedral, which is one of the highest
        edifices in the world. The air from underneath the machine is exhausted
        by the action of the screw, which, passing under the wings, causes a
        vacuum, while the air above it replenishes and fills this void, and
        under the influence of these two causes the apparatus mounts from the
        earth. But the problem is not solved by means of this plaything, whose
        motive power is exterior to it. Messrs. Nadar, Ponton, D’Amecourt, and
        De la Landelle teach us better than this, although the wings of their
        different models are entirely unworthy of men who desire to demonstrate
        a truth to short-lived mortals. We have only arrived as yet at the
        infancy of the process, but we have made a good beginning, for, having
        once proved that a machine capable of raising itself in the air, wholly
        unaided from without, can be made, we have overcome with this apparently
        small result the whole difficulty. The principle of propulsion by means
        of a screw is by no means a novelty. It was first utilised in windmills,
        whose sails are nothing more nor less than an immense screw which is
        turned by the action of the wind on its surface. In the case of turbine
        water-wheels, where perhaps 970 cubic feet of water are utilised by
        means of a mechanism not larger than a hat, we see another illustration
        of it, with this difference, that water takes the place of wind as the
        motive power.
      </p>

      <p>
        “The aerial screw is beset with great difficulties, but if we can
        succeed through its agency in raising even the smallest weight, we may
        be confident of being able to raise a heavier one, for a large machine
        is always more powerful in proportion to its size than a small one.
      </p>

      <p>
        “Mlle. Garnerin once made a bet that she would guide herself in her
        descent from a considerable altitude towards a fixed spot on the earth
        at some distance, with no other help than the parachute; and she was
        really able to guide herself to within a few feet of the specified spot,
        by simply altering the inclination of the parachute.
      </p>

      <p>
        “From observations in mountainous districts, where large birds of prey
        may be seen to the best advantage hovering with outstretched wings, I
        have come to the conclusion that they first of all attain the requisite
        height and then, extending their wings in the form of a parachute, let
        themselves glide gradually towards the desired spot. Marshal Niel
        confirms this opinion by his experience in the mountains of Algeria. It
        is, therefore, clear from these examples that we should possess the
        power of transporting ourselves from place to place if we could only
        discover a means of raising a weight perpendicularly in the air, which
        would then act as a capital of power, only requiring to be expended at
        will.”
      </p>

      <p>
        From the foregoing remarks we may gather an idea of the importance which
        may be attached to aerial locomotion notwithstanding the successive
        failures of all those who have hitherto taken up the subject. We come
        now to the description of the memorable ascent of the ‘Geant.’
      </p>

      <p>
        We learn from the very interesting account of the ‘Geant,’ published at
        the time, all the mishaps and adventures it outlived from the time of
        the first stitch in its covering to its final inflation with gas. We
        must, however, be content to take up the narrative at the point at which
        the ‘Geant,’ with thirteen passengers on board, had, in obedience to the
        order to “let go,” been released from the bonds which held it to the
        earth. The narrative is, as our readers will perceive, written in
        somewhat exaggerated language:—
      </p>

      <p>
        “The ‘Geant’ gave an almost imperceptible shake on finding itself free,
        and then commenced to rise. The ascent was slow and gradual at first—the
        monster seemed to be feeling its way. An immense shout rose with it from
        the assembled multitude. We ascended grandly, whilst the deafening
        clamour of two hundred thousand voices seemed to increase. We leant over
        the edge of the car, and gazed at the thousands of faces which were
        turned towards us from every point of the vast plain, in every
        conceivable angle of which we were the common apex. We still ascended.
        The summits of the double row of trees which surround the Champ de Mars
        were already under us. We reached the level of the cupola of the
        Military School. The tremendous uproar still reached us. We glided over
        Paris in an easterly direction, at the height of about six hundred feet.
        Every one took up the best possible position on the six light cane
        stools, and on the two long bunks at either end of the car, and
        contemplated the marvellous panorama spread out under us, of which we
        never grew weary.
      </p>

      <p>
        “There is never any dizziness in a balloon, as is often erroneously
        supposed, for in it you are the only point in space without any
        possibility of comparison with another, and therefore the means of
        becoming giddy are not at hand.”
      </p>

      <p>
        A very experienced aeronaut, who numbers his ascents by hundreds, has
        assured me that he never knew of a single case of dizziness.
      </p>

      <p>
        “The earth seems to unfold itself to our view like an immense and
        variegated map, the predominant colour of which is green in all its
        shades and tints. The irregular division of the country into fields made
        it resemble a patchwork counterpane. The size of the houses, churches,
        fortresses, was so considerably diminished as to make them resemble
        nothing so much as those playthings manufactured at Carlsruhe. This was
        the effect produced by a microscopic train, which whistled very faintly
        to attract our attention, and which seemed to creep along at a snail’s
        pace, though doubtless going at the rate of thirty miles an hour, and
        was enveloped in a minute cloud of smoke. What a lasting impression this
        microscopic neatness makes on us! What is that white puff I see down
        there? the smoke of a cigar? No: it is a cloud of mist. It must be a
        perfect plain that we are looking at, for we cannot distinguish between
        the different altitudes of a bramble-bush and an oak a hundred years
        old!
      </p>

      <p>
        “It is one of the delights of an aeronaut to gaze on the familiar scenes
        of earth from the immense height of the car of a balloon! What earthly
        pleasure can compare with this! Free, calm, silent, roving through this
        immense and hospitable space, where no human form can harm me, I despise
        every evil power; I can feel the pleasure of existence for the first
        time, for I am in full possession, as on no other occasion, of perfect
        health of mind and body. The aeronauts of the ‘Geant’ will scarcely
        condescend to pity those miserable mortals whom they can only faintly
        recognise by their gigantic works, which appear to them not more
        dignified than ant-hills!
      </p>

      <p>
        “The sun had already set behind the purple horizon in our rear. The
        atmosphere was still quite clear round the ‘Geant,’ although there was a
        thick haze underneath, through which we could occasionally see lights
        glimmering from the earth. We had attained a sufficient altitude to be
        only just able to hear noises from villages that we left beneath us, and
        were beginning to enjoy the delicious calm and repose peculiar to aerial
        ascents.
      </p>

      <p>
        “There is, however, a talk about dinner, or rather supper, and night is
        now fast approaching. Every one eats with the best possible appetite.
        Hams, fowls and dessert only appear to disappear with an equal
        promptitude, and we quench our thirst with bordeaux and champagne. I
        remind our companions of the pigeons we brought with us, and which are
        hanging in a cage outside the railing. I knew there was no danger of
        their flying away, so fearlessly opened the cage. The three or four
        birds I had put in the car seemed struck with terror. They flew
        awkwardly towards the centre of our party, tumbling among the plates and
        dishes and under our feet. It was not a case of hunger with them, and I
        ought to have remembered that their feeding time was long since past. I
        replaced them in their cage.
      </p>

      <p>
        “Meanwhile, the sun has left us for some time. Our longing gaze followed
        it behind the dark clouds in the horizon, whose edges it tipped with a
        glorious purple. Its last rays shone on us, and then came a bluish-grey
        twilight. Suddenly we are enveloped in a dense fog. We look around,
        above us. Everything has disappeared in the mist. The balloon itself is
        no longer visible. We can see nothing except the ropes which suspend us,
        and these are only visible for a few feet above our heads, when they
        lose themselves in the fog. We are alone with our wickerwork house in an
        unfathomable vault.
      </p>

      <p>
        “We still ascend, however, through the compact and terrible fog, which
        is so solid-looking as to seem capable of being carved into forms with a
        knife. As we were without a moon, and had no light at all, in fact, we
        were unable to distinguish nicely the different shades of colour in
        these thick clouds. Now and then, when the clouds seemed to be lighter,
        they had a bluish tinge; but the thicker ones were dirty and
        muddy-looking. Dante must have seen some like these.
      </p>
      <p>
        <em
          >Content from
          <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/899/899-h/899-h.htm"
            >Wonderful Balloon Ascents</a
          ></em
        >
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